History of our family

Astoria Travel is a family travel agency organizing private and guided cultural and educational tours in Greece for individuals and groups.

OUR FAMILY HISTORY IN THE TRAVEL TRADE.

We are proud that since 1997 we are the only travel agency in Athens owned and operated for three generations by the same family. A sign of reliability, honesty and responsibility.

The history of our family in the travel trade, started in 1926 when the founder of Astoria travel, Theodoros Papagiannis, came to Athens from the village of Nestani, near Tripolis (central Peloponnesus), was employed in the Greek travel agency, PHAROS Travels Inc. dealing with Greek citizens that immigrated to USA, on September 20, 1926. Today the village of Nestani counts 1,100 citizens and with Theodoros in the travel trade, in 2018, in Chicago alone, the community of people with roots from Nestani, reached 25,000 people.

Theodoros, established Astoria Travel in September 1958. Over the years the travel agency has grown in an experienced company, involved in various aspects of tourism in Greece.

Kosta (the son): From the early age of 14 during his summer school holidays, he worked at Astoria Travel. After he finished the high school education in Athens, he immigrated to South Africa (1964 -1974). In Port Elizabeth, where he lived, he graduated from U.P.E. with a B.Com. As a proper “Sagittarian”, travelling was not only a hobby, but a “need”, and from his travels he gathered plenty of experiences. His biggest problem was, that having little time to see the things he wanted to see, many times he felt that he needed guidance from a local. When he settled back in Greece in 1974, he took over the management of ASTORIA TRAVEL and his hobby became a career.

His effort was to give to people what he needed in his travels, the guidance from a local expert. His efforts were successful, and his presence in Athens made people feel more comfortable. Today, after 50 years in the business, he is fortunate to work along with his two daughters and provide high quality personal services, based on reliability, friendliness and affordable prices.

Zefi and Marina(the grand daughters) The young blood (both Sagittarians) in the office has made the difference in client relations. Today’s youth is more friendly and open to new friends. Both of them, each in her department of the business, managed to absorb the experience they needed and today they are running the office successfully.

This is why we are proud that we are the only Athenian Travel agency that belongs to the same family for 3 generations.

We hope that despite of the big problems that the 21 c. has brought worldwide, we shall keep on offering the service we feel a tourist needs when visiting Greece.
Our services will cover most of your needs; However we are versatile and will meet your requirements and welcome your suggestions. Personal service has been our motto all these years and we are determined to keep it as our main goal in our business and customer relations.

We invite you to visit sunny Greece, land of hospitality, let us be your host, and give us the opportunity to meet you in person.